Some of you were surprised to see that the average vote of the PFT staff placed the Dolphins at No. 31 on the preseason power rankings. That group included Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.

As explained by Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Ross was sufficiently concerned about the placement to pick up the phone and call coach Joe Philbin, who apparently said something along the lines of, “Those guys don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“I don’t think he knows the guys in our looker room or the guys that come to work in this building every single day from top to bottom,” Philbin said to Salguero, with the “he” actually being the “we” who voted on the best to worst franchises entering the 2014 season.

While Philbin can get plenty of mileage in the locker room out of the lack of perceived respect inherent to the ranking, he actually should be glad that expectations are so low. The lower the expectations, the easier it is for a coach to exceed them and, in turn, to remain the coach.

While reasonable minds may differ on whether the Dolphins currently sit below every NFL team not located in Oakland, there’s plenty of reason to think the Dolphins won’t take a step forward from last year’s 8-8 finish, which was punctuated by a pair of losses in winnable games. The organization showed serious signs of dysfunction in the early portion of the offseason, via multiple reports creating the impression that G.M. Jeff Ireland lost a power struggle with V.P. of football administration Dawn Aponte, who had reportedly aligned with Philbin after Ireland reportedly tried to get Aponte fired. The perception that no one wanted to succeed Ireland as the team’s G.M. bolstered the sense that things aren’t going so well in South Florida.

Al of the comments below the article scoff at every thing he said lol.

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Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:59 pm

Makchell

Phinfever Lead Moderator

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:04 pmPosts: 7927

Re: Florio on Ranking the 'Fins at 31 - Takes shot at Philbin

We need to prove them wrong.

Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:51 pm

10acjed

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:43 pmPosts: 4885Location: Wellington, FL

Re: Florio on Ranking the 'Fins at 31 - Takes shot at Philbin

I dont understand where this confidence in our coaching staff comes from. I think we saw a glimpse of it last season where the team seemed to rally and make a nice run. But to be in a win and in situation, where they controlled their own destiny and just lay down? That is pathetic.

Philbin was a game planner in GB... If planning is his specialty he should have been fired in the locker room in Buffalo. That was the worst game plan I have ever seen. Worst o-line vs the best d-line and they thought we could just line up and play? That is dumb...

We were way too vanilla, and Sherman's stupid idea to develop Tanne into a pocket passer is baffling in this day and age. Not too mention go vs go go and Philbin was going to resign over that guy....

I am not so sure this roster will go to war for him... IDK, maybe the new OC and line coach will make a bug difference... But I am not planning my post season party just yet....

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Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:24 am

Makchell

Phinfever Lead Moderator

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:04 pmPosts: 7927

Re: Florio on Ranking the 'Fins at 31 - Takes shot at Philbin

I dont understand where this confidence in our coaching staff comes from